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PROGRAM outline is transcribed below.
This is based on a short article
INTRODUCTION:
You are listening to ComfortForToday.com, a radio program with articles from the website of the same name - ComfortForToday.com. My name is Doreen Palmer, and my husband Neville and I are producers of this program. If you wish to order the articles used on this program, we have assembled them in booklets of 30 articles each, and will send each to you postpaid for $8 each. There are 12 booklets in all. Or you may order my books "Overcoming in the End-Time Church" and "The Lost Ark is Found" at a cost of $10 each postpaid. Our address is Comfort Books, 27 Dominion Gardens Drive, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada L7G 6B2. If you have a computer, the programs are recorded in both written and audio form on the website ComfortForToday.com.
Our article today is the true story of a restored hardened criminal. Before I read this article let us listen to the chorus of "Something Beautiful, Something Good" as recorded by Norma-Jean Mainse and her brothers at Crossroads Ministries, producers of 100 Huntley Street daily television program.
MUSIC: Chorus of "Something Beautiful, Something Good"
I wrote this article several years ago on my way back to Canada from Finland. My husband and I had just spent a week with our friends from Canada who were also holidaying in Finland. This couple are true Christians, but they are not what some people expect to find in a Christian. They are a living example of what the grace of God can do.
Al spent most of his life behind penitentiary bars, much of the time in solitary confinement as he couldn't get along with anyone. He was a very angry, hardened criminal.
While in hospital with terminal cancer he met Kaarina. When she entered his hospital room, her first words were, "Jesus loves you". Al relates that if she had said anything else, he would have thrown her out. She prayed with him, he said the sinner's prayer and he asked Jesus to remain with him the rest of his life. They both speak about how the hospital room became charged with the glory of God and a deep peace settled upon both of them. It was a miracle! His cancer was healed and he was eventually pardoned.
When Kaarina first saw Al in that hospital room, she saw a beautiful human being underneath the face of this hardened criminal. It was only because she saw him in this way that she was able to marry him and work through his many problems. With the help of a strong deliverance minister, much prayer, and her unfailing devotion, God restored him to the sweet and kindly man he is today.
If Kaarina had made the judgment 'hardened criminal', he would still be one. Instead, the judgment was 'beautiful child of God' - and that is what she got!
If we label people as a 'critical person', 'a gossip' or 'stubborn', they remain just that way because we see them only by the label we have attached to them. They behave according to our expectations.
Instead of labelling a person, let us see his mistakes through the light of the cross of Jesus Christ. Let us not condemn him as a person who always does and always will react in a certain way, but let us see the good in him.
Very often our physical health suffers when we have made a severe judgment on someone and have never forgiven him. This is what the Bible means where it says, "Do not judge or you too will be judged" (Matt.7:1 NKJV). The judgment of God and man can fall in this world in many ways when we fail to forgive others. "The root of bitterness" is a root from which many of our problems sprout (Heb.12:15).
The philosopher, Santayana, said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is another way of saying that the way we look at people gives us the picture of what they are. One person looks at a flower and sees a beautiful flower, another sees a 'too small flower because of the bad weather'. Beauty can be seen only by eyes which wish to see it! If we can see through the eyes of Jesus, we can see all mankind as His beautiful children.
It is now ten years since I first wrote this article. Since that time, Al has passed on, but we can be certain he has gone to be with Jesus. That is because his wife saw in him something beautiful, and he became that person. Indeed, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
That is the end of article 24 on the website.
Now I would like to tell you about another incident in my life when the same truth became apparent: "What you see is what you get."
When I was teaching high school, a very pretty blonde girl was in the habit of skipping my classes. I could not understand the reason for this as when students skip classes, there is usually tension between the teacher and student, but this did not seem to be the case. Although I had spoken to her several times about missing classes, she still didn't show up too often.
One day I decided to go to the guidance office and check the records to find out more about her background. I was utterly amazed to discover that her father and mother had recently broken up their marriage. I would have had no idea of this because she was such a polite and well-behaved girl, there did not appear to be any great problem.
The interesting ending to this is that when I knew she had a home problem, my attitude toward her must have changed. Instead of seeing her as someone who refused to come to class, I saw her as the hurting child of a broken home. I indentified with her feelings because at the time I had also experienced a marriage breakup and knew the deep anguish inside myself and my four children. So without saying one word to her about this, she must have noticed that I viewed her in a different light. Because you know what? She began to attend every class! Not only did she attend class, but she became quite friendly toward me.
Instead of seeing her as a rebellious student who didn't like to come to class, I saw her as a hurting child from a broken home. A beautiful child of God who was looking for love and acceptance. And when I had unknowingly given that to her, she accepted it and changed her attitude.
This experience was a great help to me in dealing with other difficult students because I realized there was always a hurting child inside those with behavioral problems. IIt may not always have been the same problem, but they had hurt and pain within them. I didn't need to know what the problem was; I just needed to accept them.
As Kaarina saw the beauty in Al, I saw the beauty in this student. Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder!
And what you see IS what you get!